Why the Title?

Friday, October 3, 2014

31 Days - Day 3 - Food

I have celiac disease. This does not define me, but it is something that I must not ignore. At home, it's easy - we are well aware of our food allergies, which are many and varied, including wheat/gluten, soy, corn and dairy.

When we go out to eat, whether it's at church for potluck or at a restaurant with friends, we have to be ever vigilant, or we end up sick, weak, and ailing for days or even weeks.

Of course, my husband doesn't have any food allergies (at least none that he admits to), so eating out with him is a test of my patience. He always lets me order first, then says pointedly, "Now for the easy order."

The way to my man's heart is definitely through his stomach. In the book of Familiar Quotations, I found this quote:

Food

We may live without
poetry, music and art;

We may live without
conscience and live without heart;

We may live without
friends; we may live without books;

But civilized man
can not live without cooks.

He may live without
books, - what is knowledge but grieving?

He may live without
hope, - what is hope but deceiving?

He may live without
love, - what is passion but pining?

But where is the man
that can live without dining?

~ Edward Robert
Bulwer Lytton, Earl of Lytton

That made me chuckle, because unlike my husband, I'd be lost without poetry, music, art, and books. I think I'd rather miss a meal than miss a chat with a friend.

We were fairly strict parents when we had a bunch of little kids at home, and one of the rules we enforced was "If a man will not work, neither will he eat." In other words, if a chore was not completely properly and on time, the person who did not get his job done had to miss the next meal. That actually included writing assignments, which brings me to this poem:

God have mercy on
the sinner

Who must write with
no dinner,

No gravy and no
grub,

No pewter and no
pub,

No belly and no
bowels,

Only consonants and
vowels.

~John Crowe Ransom, Survey of Literature

How about you? Would you rather eat dinner than spend time practicing an instrument or completing an art project? Do you have a husband like mine who equates food with love? Are you a mom that considers an occasional missed meal a valuable training tool in bringing up a child in the way he should go?